September 27th

SEPTEMBER 27th

What are you expecting today?

What if your blessings today don’t look like what you expect? Will you recognize them as blessings?

I was thinking the other day about the disciples and the rest of the Jews back then. They were expecting a Messiah, but they weren’t expecting Jesus. Some missed it because they refused to recognize Him as Messiah because He was not what/who they were expecting. They were expecting a warrior, human royalty, a revolution to overthrow Rome.

Instead, they got a humble man born in a stable in Bethlehem and then raised in the scorned tiny town of Nazareth. The kind of place people made fun of and did not expect to be famous one day.

They got a man that was fully God, a man who healed the sick, lame and blind, a man who raised the dead and fed tens of thousands from a handful of fish and bread. But many didn’t notice because He didn’t overthrow Rome. They got a man who was not afraid to speak the truth to them, even when they didn’t like what He said and they held the power to harm Him. His physique was not impressive so many didn’t consider the potential outcome that He could provide.

They didn’t get a political powerhouse, they got a man who wouldn’t play their game. The got a man who wasn’t worried about their approval. They got a man who took their mocking and turned the other cheek. They got a man who stood silent while they beat him beyond recognition. They got a man who endured the most gruesome death imaginable and breathed out forgiveness instead of hatred. They got a man whose supernatural strength KEPT Him from crushing them. They got a man whose supernatural love held Him on the cross rather than rescuing himself. They got a man whose wisdom and strength kept Him focused on the real battle and the real enemy.

He wasn’t there to fight Rome. He was there to defeat someone more dangerous than Rome, someone stronger than Rome, someone more of a threat than Rome. They got a man that went to the grave and THEN used His power to crush the enemy and defeat sin, death and the grave! They got a man that will someday return to take His followers to Heaven. And when He returns…THEN He will be a Warrior, the King of kings and then there WILL be a revolution, or shall we call it a revelation!

Who will you be today? One of His disciples that gets to see and recognize His work in your life today, or a Pharisee who can’t recognize the blessing because it isn’t what you expect? Or maybe a Roman who just thinks he/she is in control of everything and doesn’t know what is really going on? Maybe you are looking for a big miracle or a big answer to prayer and you think you know how it should look or happen. Let’s see with our eyes today and recognize the miracles in our life today no matter how “little” or simple or different or humble they may appear at first. Maybe we are missing our “miracle” because we expect it to look like something else.

Matthew 13:14-16 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

See and be blessed today!

Lord, thank you for your faithfulness to me. Forgive me for not seeing your work in my life. Help me to look for you in unexpected places and unexpected ways. Help me to notice your hand upon my day and life in every little way. I want to see you, open my eyes and the eyes of my heart Lord.